Clements Athletic 1 - 2 Sporting 77 (Essex Junior Cup Round 2)

Clements' Essex Cup run came to an end in challenging conditions, as a first half lead was overturned via a penalty and a freak, wind assisted effort.  The funny thing was, that even before our visitors from Braintree had but the ball in the net, we had already beaten ourselves through a general lack of team cohesion and willingness to fight for and support each other.  It's easy to expect too much, and perhaps be too hard on ourselves when there have been a lot of changes since the last season.  This was actually only our 4th competitive game, and our first in three weeks, so fitness and match sharpness was going to be an issue.  Still, we need to get used to having tough games, and still be able to come away feeling positive about the way we played.

Alec had a big headache this week with 16 players to choose from, including 6 who would ideally play in the centre of the park.  This included Ben W, who made his first appearance of the season.

Subs: Chris, Harry, Alan, Bunny, Gollum

The conditions have already been mentioned, and the gale force wind blowing into the bottom corner added to the poorly prepared pitch; the lines had been cut, but that was it.  Despite this, Clements started brightly and took the lead when Ryan's in swinging corner was headed in by Liam for his first goal of the season.

We weren't able to press home our advantage from here, and did a fair amount of defending.  Browne cleared one off the line, and Conor made a few good saves to keep us in front.  Possession was too easily lost, and hopeful balls up to the isolated figure of Liam just weren't working.

The mood at half time was pretty bleak, and this attitude followed us onto the pitch for the second half.  We had our chances, and when Tapsell broke and slid the ball through for Liam - who appeared to have held his run to beat the offside trap - the lead should have been doubled.  The linesman thought otherwise - actually his flag went up so quick I don't think he could have had time to think.  Sporting 77 then scored from the spot after the ball was lost in midfield, and Eye-Ball was a little slow to react to the ball in behind and ended up taking the man out before he had chance to shoot at goal: 1-1.

The wind was so strong that it was almost easier playing against it, and it played a big part in Sporting 77's second goal.  A speculative high ball seemed to be sailing over the bar, but then a gust of wind stopped it in its tracks, and it dropped out of Conors reach and under the crossbar: 1-2.

This was a mortal blow to an already waning side, and we found it hard to find the extra reserves to push forward and press for an equaliser.  Our best chance came when Ryan whipped in an awesome free kick from the left that somehow evaded all the players who were queuing up at the back post.  Niki and Conor put in some last ditch defending at the other end to keep the scoreline respectable, but the end result was the end of our run in the Essex Cup for another year.

It is unusual for me to not find more positives from a game, and I do think that, as a club we are at a bit of a crossroads and need to decide how we want to move forward.  Sharpy has rightly identified that we would benefit from bonding more as a team and I would urge as many of us to support him with this as we can.


Eye-Ball

Goal scoring chart

Next game: Sunday 3rd November @ Home v S.S.C. Orsett